Recalled To Service
by Zero-metallix
Summary: Final Fantasy VII characters reincarnate in the Naruto world, but is there a deeper meaning behind their re-awakening? Naru/Hina Cloud/Tifa non-slash/no yaoi.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Recalled To Service

Summary: Final Fantasy VII characters reincarnate in the Naruto world, but is there a deeper meaning behind their re-awakening?

A/N: Plot idea borrowed with permission from **Youko Rayah, **which appeared as the story **Help Thyself. **This work is a collaboration between **Honor **and **Zero-metallix. **

**Now being re-written. Cloud will be reintroduced later, Aerith now has a larger role. We freely admit- We messed up, we wrote ourselves into a corner. The best fix is to redo now, instead of trying to continue and having even more to rewrite.**

_/italics/_ indicates thoughts. Final Fantasy names are in the Western format, Naruto names in the Japanese format.

**360 years before.**

Hyuuga Hitomi gazed across the valley she was supposed to be scouting in preparation for the arrival of the rest of the nomadic clan. The sky brightened before her, and as she turned in the direction of the light, a tremendous sound shook the air, and the ground trembled. Hitomi's sharp stare caught the smouldering trees around a newly formed clearing.

/_A falling star,/_ she rationalised _/Nothing to worry about./_ But something drew her closer.

Within the crater, something stirred. Piggybacked on the meteor came a gestalt entity, a hive mind, a body comprised of countless viral cells, enabling adaptation, absorption, infection, transformation. A swirling mass of an alien entity. Sensing an approaching presence, the entity expressed a cloud of its own cells, intent on infecting and analysing.

By the time Hitomi arrived, unaware that she had inhaled anything other than smoke, the entity had read her, and acted upon the information. As she entered the clearing, a man turned towards her, dark of hair and eye. She took a defensive stance, and demanded harshly,

"Identify yourself!"

The entity reached out, and soothed the suspicion in her mind. Entranced, she never noticed the cold glint to his eyes, or the hint of a cruel smirk lingering around his mouth.

"I... am **Venat**."

**Present day**

It was a peaceful day in the village of Konohagakure. In an alternate Konoha, the peace would have been disturbed by the resident prankster, but in this Konoha, he was actually paying attention in didn't stop him from being bored, however.

_/Mah, Iruka-sensei is __**so **__boring! How can he turn the story of the Valley of the End into something so dull. You explained it so much better, 'nee-san./ _Naruto whined mentally, even as he took notes, notes that he was doodling on.

_/Now, now,/_ Aerith gave him a reproachful look, even as she repressed a smile. _/Even the best SOLDIERs need to study, you know. And you really shouldn't be chatting with me in class./_ Before Naruto could object, the apparation gave off a tickling laugh and disappeared. Not that anyone else could, as far as Naruto knew, see Aerith, or hear her, though Naruto had seen her most of his life. Sometimes, he even dreamed of her. They weren't happy 's smiling face, a dropping shadow, a sword piercing, and the memory of smiling green eyes, pink and spreading red. He always awoke sweating, full of dread and determination, to never see this, beyond his own nightmares.

Iruka had finished lecturing during Naruto's reminiscing.

"- And remember, you must reference at least one historic battle during your written Genin exams, so be sure to choose one you know well. Shall we move on to practical review?"

Naruto had been dreading this. Sure, his taijutsu wasn't too bad, and his aim was pretty good, even if his throwing technique needed practice. His kawarimi was as good as that of any genin, and his henge was good enough if he concentrated, but frankly, his bunshin **sucked.**

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but... You fail." Iruka looked sympathetic as Naruto's face fell.

"Surely, Iruka we could give him a pass. He did produce five clones, even if only one of them was able to stand (said clone was leaning against the original, barely conscious) and he is only a few marks away from a pass." Mizuki said suavely.

Naruto's hopes rose and he quickly offered to perform the henge or kawarimi, but they were dashed when Iruka-sensei shook his head.

"Everyone else produced three viable clones. I can't let him pass."

Naruto psyched himself up, and tried hard to ignore Cloud.

_/Naruto, this is a really bad idea. Every time I've broken into a building, things have gone wrong_._Seriously, you haven't even got a plan./ _Aerith remembered the many conversations with Tifa about Cloud and Barret's plans, or lack thereof.

Naruto gritted his teeth and climbed up and in through the window. He was making his way across the darkened room when the lights turned on.

"Naruto, what are you doing in my house at this hour?" Naruto turned to face the Hokage.

_/No choice, better use it./ _Naruto's hands flew into the henge seal.

/_Naruto, not that!/ _Aerith cringed. Even though it had been her fault in the first place,since she should never have told Naruto about Cloud, Wall Market and rescuing Tifa, the Oiroke no jutsu made her feel guilty every time Naruto used it.

"...I found you...Hey!" Iruka caught his breath. "You're all beaten up, what were you doing?"

"Never mind that, hey hey?" Naruto had an odd sense of deja vu, and resolved never to use that particular phrasing again. It felt...oily. "I'm going to try an incredible skill. If I do it, let me graduate! He said that if I showed you this skill, I'd definitely graduate!"

Naruto didn't notice the shock on Iruka-sensei's face.

/_Damn it, a trap! I should have known...No!/ _Naruto felt himself be pushed aside as Iruka-sensei took the kunai meant for him.

Following Iruka's orders, Naruto took the forbidden scroll and ran through the forest, as Iruka distracted Mizuki with a clever use of henge.

The chase ended, with a wounded Iruka propping himself up against a tree while Mizuki laughed, balanced on a branch, sneering down at him.

"Come out Naruto, you really ought to hear the truth before you die." Mizuki called.

Naruto shivered in his hiding place behind a nearby tree, in his panicked state he was ignoring Aerith's attempts to contact him.

"Haven't you ever wondered, why does everyone hate you?" Mizuki sneered "You know about the Kyuubi no Youko, that attacked the village 12 years ago."

"Ever since that day, there has been a rule that no one may tell you, or speak of." Mizuki grinned maniacally, dropping to the ground. "The truth is, Naruto, that you are the Kyuubi!"

"You are responsible for the death and destruction that almost wiped out our village. The Fourth Hokage gave his life to seal you away, and now, I'm going to finish the job!" Mizuki laughed arrogantly.

"No I'm not. Fuzzy is like, 1000 times bigger than me, and he has terrible bad breath." Naruto's simple statement threw Mizuki and shattered the tension that had filled the clearing. Naruto grinned, he'd caught Mizuki off guard, as intended. Later though, this was going to take a ton of ramen to fix.

Iruka burst out laughing, mostly in sheer disbelief, while Mizuki became enraged. He flung a brace of kunai at Iruka.

"Iruka, I said I would take care of you later, but now I'm changing my mind. Hurry up and die!"

Mizuki charged towards Iruka, but was interrupted when Naruto's knee collided with his face, knocking Mizuki backwards.

"If you touch Iruka-sensei again, I'll KILL YOU!" Naruto stood in front of Iruka, glaring at Mizuki.

"No Naruto! Run away!" Iruka shouted at his student.

"Pathetic, I'll kill you in one shot!"

"Try it!" Naruto brought his hands together in a cross seal and with a shout filled the clearing with solid clones.

Mizuki looked around in horror, Iruka in awe and Aerith...She was trying not to look at all the orange. /_You have got to get a new outfit. Maybe leather./_

"Well? I thought you were going to kill me?" the Naruto clones taunted the older shinobi before jumping on him in a large one sided free-for-all that left the traitor in a broken heap on the forest floor.

Naruto stood over the beaten man scratching the back of his head. "I think I went a little too far..." Catching Iruka's eye, Naruto looked away, his expression darkening.

"Ne..Iruka-sensei...do you hate me?" It was a simple question, but one to which he dreaded the answer.

Iruka sighed before beckoning Naruto over "Come here, there's something I want to give you and that you need to hear. Close your eyes."

He paused for a moment "Naruto you are not the demon fox, you are a member of the hidden leave and I'm proud that you are one of my students" As Iruka spoke, Naruto felt a tugging on his head.

"OK, open your eyes. Congratulations on graduating"

After a lot of explaining to the Hokage, and confirmation of Naruto's graduation, Iruka treated Naruto to breakfast, which was not ramen, much to Naruto's dismay. Seriously, after dropping a explosive like the Kyuubi on a guy, they might at least let him have comfort food!.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The authors are in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. This is a re-written chapter following a shift in plot.

Chapter 2

356 years Before

In a strategically advantageous mountain valley deep in what would become the country of Lightening, a messenger of the Hyuuga Clan Head approached the clearing that held a settlement of a cadet branch of the Hyuuga Clan. They had settled here four years earlier but reports had been scarce, something the Clan Head had found troubling. Now a decision that would affect the Clan as a whole was coming, every Hyuuga clansman was being recalled to the hidden location of the Clan Head.

Approaching the settlements last known position, as it wasn't unheard of for small settlements to migrate as needs required.  
The messenger was surprised when a number of his clansmen surrounded him and demanded his immediate surrender,his protests that he was of the same clan were ignored as they led him roughly to the town.

When they arrived the man felt the hairs on his neck stand on end, everyone he passed was a Hyuuga and everyone of them looked at him as an intruder. As he was led into large house, unlike the temporary buildings that made up the settlement this one was solidly built. He had a really bad feeling about this.

Standing in a large room the messenger tried to make sense of what he was seeing, this cadet branch seemed unruly, like they held themselves above the others, which explained the lack of communication. This cadet branch was plainly trying to cut itself off and form its own main house, the true clan head would be furious when he found out. A tall dark eyed man entered the room and the messenger was just about to demand they take him to the clan head when the stranger spoke. "What is the reason for your trespass on my lands?"

The messenger realized, with mounting horror, that this man was the clan head, these people, who is his mind no longer qualified as Hyuuga, were allowing an outsider to lead them. Obviously people married into the clan on occasion, it was necessary, but they were never given positions of power.

"I have been sent to bring you orders from the clan head, a meeting is due to take place and all members of the Hyuuga clan are to attend."

Venat smiled. "I feel I must tell you, you have wasted your time, there are no members of the Hyuuga clan here." The messenger couldn't keep the horrified expression of his face but Venat continued regardless "your eyes have so much potential, but the Hyuuga are content to stay as they are, letting that potential go to waste. I will unlock that potential"

Moving towards the messenger Venat began to emit killing intent like none the messenger had ever felt, pale eyes locked on dark "Return to your master and tell them that everything you see before you belongs to me now." This is all the messenger heard, as with a flash of colour the world changed around him.

Present Day, Late Afternoon

It had only been three hours since lunch, but already Naruto was starting to get hungry. He sneaked a glance at his team-mates. The teme didn't look bothered at all. The three of them were alone in the class room, since even Iruka-sensei had taken advantage of the handing-over to take a rare afternoon off.

***  
Earlier that day.

The classroom was very noisy that morning, with everyone talking about how their families had celebrated and who they thought their jounin sensei or team-mates might be .

Naruto took a place in the nearest row of seats, and settled down to wait for Iruka-sensei and the rest of the class. Nara Shikamaru, walking up to the back row, was stunned to see Naruto sitting in class, shiny hitae-ate perched on his brow. _/That Naruto, he's jus' full of surprises./_ Absentmindedly Shikamaru pulled a senbon from his pouch and stuck it in his mouth as he ambled past Naruto. He sunk into a seat near the window, and stared at the birds in the sky. _/*(^& I miss the Highwind./_

Having sat down in the middle of an empty three-seat row, it should not have surprised Naruto that Uchiha Sasuke might attempt to take advantage of this to avoid his fan club and sit next to him, and yet somehow it did. Unfortunately, his attempt failed as Haruno Sakura shoved Naruto out of his seat, and trampled him to sit next to Sasuke and bat her eyelids at him.

At this particular point it should probably be mentioned that Classroom 3C of the Konohagakure no Sato Academy of Shinobi Arts was currently holding not one but four reawakened members of the groups formerly known as AVALANCHE and Shinra, and several more yet to awake. At the moment though only one of them concerns us. Her name was currently Inner Sakura, but she rather preferred the name Cissnei. Sakura wasn't quite sure when Inner Sakura had appeared; for as long as she could remember, she had always been there in the back of her mind, offering advice. The first time she could clearly remember hearing her was at age 5, not long after the Uchiha massacre. The sight of Sasuke when he had returned to the Academy had put her in mind of a kicked puppy. It was this comparison that had drawn a comment from Inner Sakura _/It's __Cissnei__./ _and she had been there ever since.

It has been mentioned before that, in a different time and place, Naruto had no-one, and in many worlds Naruto confronted both Sasuke and Sakura, and his day was the worse for it., Naruto however had Aerith, who nagged, but nicely, and stopped him drinking the milk at breakfast that had turned. He also had rather vivid nightmares which had left him rather subdued this morning, despite his exuberant nature and recent graduation.

As it was, he sat next to Sakura, nursing bruises and grumbling about the unfairness of a universe that not only gave all the girls to a bastard that didn't appreciate them, but also gave said girls leeway in crushing all obstacles between themselves and the object of their affections.

_/It would be so funny if he turned out to be gay./_ Naruto sulked. _/Only if it wasn't you he liked,/ _Aerith pointed out, /_Otherwise, you'd have to put up with knowing he had a crush on you./_ Naruto had been so busy grumbling that he had almost missed the team assignments.

"Team 7 will be Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura." At this Sakura groaned while offering a prayer to the kami. "and Uchiha Sasuke."

Sakura leapt up cheering, Naruto and Sasuke slumped in their seats and groaned. Then Sasuke realised what had happened and glared at Naruto. Naruto was cursing his luck at being teamed with the teme, and to make it worse he couldn't get his earlier discussion with Aerith out of his head. He glared back, /_That bastard better not get any ideas./ _he muttered. Even as she smiled in amusement at Naruto, Aerith agreed that Sasuke's attitude would be a problem. Sakura was in two minds about the whole thing. The one half was happy to be teamed with her Sasuke-kun, and devastated at putting up with Naruto, while the other was more reluctant to deal with either of their attitude problems, even if the blond made her think of the puppy's favourite project.

That had been more than four hours ago. For three of those hours, Hatake Kakashi had been discreetly watching his new 'students', in a rather dull attempt to profile them beyond the academy standards.

This was not as simple as it should have been. Kakashi had wanted to watch his team interact with each other and through those interactions, he could profile his students characteristics. However all three students had sat still for three hours, while Sakura gazed at Sasuke, ignoring Naruto's fidgeting and rare attempts to start a conversation, Naruto ignored Sasuke and attempted to talk to Sakura before giving up and staring into space (Aerith was confusing him with legends about the WEAPONs as compared to the reality) and Sasuke simply ignored both of them. As such, Kakashi was forced to rely on what had been written in their academy files, with those and what he had learned from the 3rd Hokage and various other sources, he didn't like the way things looked.

From what Kakashi could tell, and what was written in his Academy report, Sasuke was anti-social. Kakashi had realised quickly that the boy had little-to-no desire to interact with his peers but his report was practically glowing with praise and recommendations about the boy's skill, intelligence and determination.

Sakura was intelligent, at least according to her academy grades, though she was lacking in practical skill. This led Kakashi to believe that she may have potential as a genjitsu-user, depending on her chakra control. A good, loving home and strong parental figures meant she was probably the most stable of her team-mates and likely would play peacemaker, once she got over her fan-girl mind set.

Naruto, according to his academy profile, was a danger to everyone around him and should be executed immediately or, at the very least, dropped from the Academy. Kakashi sighed at the report from an obviously biased teacher before moving to the later parts of the folder which had been written by Umino Iruka. Naruto's Academy scores placed him in the middle-to-low section of the class, though Iruka noted his grades would be higher if he concentrated a bit more during class, he was apparently loyal and, Kakashi was pleased to note, willing to protect others. Looking over the note on Naruto's graduation, Kakashi was a bit worried that he had apparently known of the Kyuubi for quite some time; if what he said about it wasn't just rambling to throw Mizuki off guard, then Naruto may have spoken to it.

Sighing, Kakashi decided the lack of interaction between the three had more-or-less ruined his plans to profile the trio, so he might as well introduce himself. Moving from his hiding spot, a conveniently placed spot in the roof of the class which had been designed for the exact purpose Kakashi had been using it for, the jounin made for the door. Entering the class he was met with glares from his students and such a weak amount of killing intent that it was almost comical. _/...This is really a jounin?...He doesn't seem to be very reliable./ _Sasuke's thoughts were, oddly enough, echoed by three other minds.

"Hmm, how can i say this?...My first impression is...You guys are going to be trouble." It was only thanks to years of practice, which he still got almost weekly thanks to Maito Gai, a fellow jounin instructor, that Kakashi kept a straight face at the expressions on the faces of his genin. "Meet me on the roof." Kakashi disappeared in a plume of smoke, using Shunshin to jump directly to the roof, leaving his students behind to exchange glances before leaving the class room and reaching the roof via the stairs.

On the roof, Kakashi perched on his heels and gazed wearily at his students. _/I wonder if I could get away_ _with just failing them all now without testing them. Yeah right, the council would skin me alive./ _"Ok, brats...let's try some introductions."

"What about you, sensei?" asked Sakura timidly. The only reason Cissnei wasn't doing more than rolling her eyes was that gathering info, even on your allies, was a commendable trait for either a Turk or a shinobi.

"Me?...I'm Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes...? Well, I have some. You guys are too young to appreciate my hobbies, and my dreams for the future?...Hmm." And with that, Kakashi fell into was almost impressed, Kakashi had sounded almost as mellow and detached as Vincent, and given away little more than his name, while still answering Sakura's question, a fact Cissnei was also impressed and annoyed with. Cissnei was reminded of a senior Turk, the one that had mentored Reno, and imprinted his laid-back, slapdash image rather than eliminating it."Now it's your turn, from the right." Naruto jolted. He had been expecting Sakura to start.

"Ano, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like instant ramen, 'nee-san, 'jii-san, and Iruka-sensei, and I hate Fuzzy."

Sakura interrupted at this point. "Come off it, Naruto," she said scornfully, "Everyone knows you don't have a sister."

Naruto glared back. "Everyone knows I don't have a 'jii-san either, but that's what I call the Sandaime." Kakashi felt mildly sure he should be taking note of this interaction for his profiles, but was too busy recovering from the near heart attack he'd had at the thought of Naruto calling the Kyuubi "'nee-san". Luckily the next words out of his mouth ruined that horrible thought. _/But still,/ _he thought _/Who is Naruto's 'nee-san? The ramen shop waitress?/_

Naruto continued. "My hobbies are training and gardening, and my dream is to wield a cool sword and become Hokage."

Kakashi felt hopeful. Finally, useful information. "What kind of cool sword, Naruto?" Depending on the answer, he would be starting a training programme. Hopefully, it would be one of the simple ones.

"One of those two-handed swords, a whatcha-ma-call-em..." _/A zanbato./ _"That's it, a zanbato!"

Kakashi had to resist the urge to groan. Why could the boy not pick something easy? Maybe he could call in a few favours from his friends in ANBU. "Next!"

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are tons of things I dislike, but... I don't really like anything. My ...Ambition...is to restore the glory of my Clan, and...to kill a certain man."

It should be noted that when Sasuke spoke, he often did so in this manner. Sasuke was a legend in his own mind.

_/And they let this guy have weapons?/ /This kid needs to be committed./ /Damn, the Psych Division are falling down on the job./ _Thought three minds simultaneously.

Kakashi shook off his thoughts and turned to Sakura. "Looks like you're up."

"My name is Haruno Sakura, I like...My hobbies are...Should I say my dreams for the future...? I hate bullies, Ino-pig and I guess, tomatoes."

Further note should be made that, during the gaps in her introduction, Sakura was blushing profusely while giggling and squealing at her own mental images. Images which Cissnei was trying to beat back with a hammer as they horrified her immensely.

/G_irls of her age more interested in romance than ninjutsu._/ Kakashi thought while resting his chin on his hand.

"Now that we all know each other, I suppose I should tell you that tomorrow the three of you will be taking a final exam. Meet me tomorrow at the training grounds, all the details are on this sheet."

Naruto held back on the kind of outburst he was dying to make. That wasn't, he thought, how a soldier behaved.

After he had handed out the sheets Kakashi made to leave "Oh! I almost forgot, don't eat breakfast, you'll only throw up." With that Kakashi Shushin-ed out of sight, in order to further observe his students.

"So what do you guys think about this whole 'exam' thing?" Sakura asked her team-mates.

"It sucks, we worked so hard to get here and now we have to do another test!" Naruto complained. Sasuke just grunted and glared before walking off without so much as a glance backwards over his shoulder. Sakura and Naruto glanced at each other, then got up to leave too. In the tree, Kakashi gave into the urge to groan as yet again his team unwittingly defied his attempts to profile them.

Next Day.

"Hey guys, good morning" Kakashi's warm greeting was cut off by Sakura shouting at him.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Ignoring her, Kakashi placed a small alarm clock on a tree stump.

"This is set for noon." He held a small pair of bells up for the genin to see. "Here are two bells, you have till noon to get them off me; those who fail to get a bell get no lunch and I'll eat lunch in front of you while you are tied to one of those stumps." Kakashi indicated the three stumps that were near by.

Kakashi was surprised when the only one who seemed worried by this prospect was Sasuke. He smiled slightly, not that his students could see, that both Naruto and Sakura had shown sense and eaten, you can't fight effectively if you're starving. "There are two bells, that means one of you will be tied to a stump, further, who ever doesn't get the a bell fails, so at least one of you will fail."

Watching his students tense Kakashi decided it was time to start "Use anything you want, you won't succeed unless you come at me with the intent to kill." He watched them for a couple of seconds, letting the tension build. He was rather surprised none of them had commented on his last remark. "All right, begin!"

The three genin blurred as they vanished into the surrounding trees. "The basics of a ninja are to hide yourself." _/Good, they are all hidden well./_ Just as Kakashi was about to take his book from his pocket, he noticed Naruto standing in front of him _/I'm sure he went into the trees, must have gotten bored already./ _"Lesson one: Taijutsu. I'll teach you about it." He finished pulling out Icha Icha Paradise.

"What the...? Why do you have a book?"

Kakashi opened it to where he'd left off. "Why? Because I want to see what happens next. Don't worry about it, it won't make a difference against you guys."

He watched out of the corner of his eye as Naruto rushed him_. /Whatever points he gained by eating, he just lost./ _He grabbed Naruto by the shoulder and pulled him down as Kakashi drove a knee into his chest. Expecting Naruto to be knocked backwards as he was released, Kakashi was startled, and impressed, as 'Naruto' burst into a cloud of smoke. _/Kage-Bunshin, huh. And using it intelligently, even. Well, at least now I know that his academy profile is completely invalid, rather than just half bullshit./_

From his perch nearby Naruto cursed as his clone was destroyed. He didn't think a clone would do much to a jounin but was annoyed at just how quickly it had been taken out. _/Quantity over Quality.../ _bringing his hands together Naruto created a large number of clones, sending them to distract Kakashi while he repositioned and tried to find his "team mates"

The clones hadn't lasted more than a moment before Kakashi tricked them into attacking each other, standing over the remaining Naruto, who Kakashi assumed was the real one, he decided to offer some advice to the boy "Shadow clone is a technique that creates solid copies of the user and is an effective tool if used correctly, you need to be more cautious about how you use a jutsu or a skilled enemy will use it against you."

Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment before dispelled himself. Kakashi's visible eye widened. _/Another clone?/ _Kakashi's thoughts were interrupted by a number of kunai and shrunken embedding themselves into his head and side.

Sakura and Sasuke had remained hidden during the entire fight between Kakashi and Naruto, both had been impressed, a fact only Sakura would actually admit, when he used the clone as a scout, less so when he attempted to bring Kakashi down with numbers, though the number of clones he created impressed Sakura, Sasuke had simply been annoyed that Naruto could use a high level jutsu so easily, and both had been, understandably, disappointed when Kakashi tricked Naruto into attack himself.

From his position Sasuke had watched Kakashi lecture what had turned out to be a shadow clone, before spotting an opening. thinking Kakashi had dropped his guard he had launched a number of kunai and shurikens, for a moment it appeared that he had been succsesful till a puff of smoke revealed a battered log, cursing his mistake Sasuke and that he had given his posision away for nothing Sasuke hurried to relocate before Kakashi caught up to him.

Sakura ran from her own hiding place trying desperately to find Sasuke before Kakashi did while ignoring the protests from Cissnei. Sakura was so focused on finding her beloved, in her mind at least, Sasuke that she almost stumbled right into Kakashi. Taking cover behind some bushes, Sakura thanked whatever god was listening that Kakashi hadn't noticed her while Cissnei offered advice on how best to handle the situation.

_/He's still got his nose buried in that damn book, all you need to do is launch a brace of shuriken at his legs, once he's immobile we can take the bells, though if you actualy bothered to put effort into your training i would say just sever the bell's string with a shuriken or senbon. or.../ _

Sakura shook her head in an attempt to silence her inner self as she suggested more violent methods to gain the bells. /_Is it a bad sign when the voices in your head know more about killing_ _than you?/ _she idly thought. Sadly for her, the distraction allowed Kakashi to sneak behind her, calling out to her to gain her attention just as he finished casting a Shunshin'd away into the trees watching to see how the girl would react. Much to his surprise, and relief, Sakura seemed to dispel the illusion in moments, then shook her head to clear the last of the illusion's effects, before smirking and walking away. As she left Kakashi could have sworn she seemed taller._ /No/_ he corrected himself, she simply carried herself with more confidence as she dashed into the forest. Putting her behavior aside, Kakashi went to annoy another of his students, an act that his sensei had told him was as fun as it was theraputic and a pleasure all instructors learned to enjoy. Or at least, that's what he'd said, when Kakashi wondered how a man that kind could suddenly turn so sadistic.

Cissnei could almost thank Kakashi, his illusion had shown Sakura something truly horrific, Sasuke's violent and painful death. At the sight of Sasuke's mutilated body, her mind had retreated in an attempt to protect itself and, in doing so, had pushed hers into the forground.

She was, for now anyway, in control, with Sakura was gibbering away in the back of her own mind. It wasn't permanent, it was far too soon for that, but with any luck it would last long enough for her to get them both through the exams.

Time in the Turks had tought her many things, among those was the useful skill of quickly knowing who she could trust to watch her back in a fight, and right now she was heading straight for the nearest one, it's not like he could really hide a chakra signature that large anyway.

In another clearing Sasuke was currently up to his neck in it, literally. Kakashi had goaded, making the young avenger lose his temper through clever taunts so the young boy would recklessly charge head first into a fight with the masked jounin. Though, most people wouldn't consider 'simply walking up and saying hello' as aggressive or provocative actions, but that was neither here nor there, the fact remained that the boy was now buried up to his neck into the ground and was unable to pull himself free.

"You want to do what!" Naruto looked at his pink haired team mate in suprise, He had been moving though the trees trying to locate Kakashi when Sakura had aproached him and asked for his help.

"I want you to help me convice Sasuke to work with us. Look, the fact is, Kakashi is a JOUNIN, it should not be possible for one of us to take him down, the three of us might at the very least be able to distract him long enough to get the bells."

Naruto quickly ran through different scenarios in his mind, and couldn't think of a single argument that would motivate Sasuke to work with them and wasted no time telling Sakura that. He thought she seemed a bit different, but put it down to tying her hair back.

Sakura smiled "Just follow my lead." With that they both moved to find their final team mate.

Finding Sasuke had been easy enough, the fire jutsu he had used against Kakashi had lit several small fires that were still smouldering, all his team mates had to do was follow the smell of burning.

Finding Sasuke neatly planted in the middle of a small clearing while he was still managing to look, mostly, detatched and uncaring, had been the funniest thing Naruto had ever seen, or at least in the top 10 and it took a great deal of self control to stop him falling to the floor and laughing his head off. Sighing, Sakura walked up to Sasuke before sitting down infront of him. After a few moments of silence, Sasuke's patience finally gave out. "Get me out of here."

"No" Sakura's curt reply countered Sasuke's petulant tone in that icy way that only a woman can convey, it also left Naruto speechless.

Trying his reign his temper in Sasuke tried again "Why not?"

"Tell me, Sasuke, do you know what your name means? Though in your case, it should be 'to ask for'." Now Sasuke was speechless, Sakura was one of his biggest fan girls and here she was acting as if he was below her. He ignored the fact that currently, he literally was below her.

Gritting his teeth, Sasuke slowly ground out reluctantly. "Would you... please ...dig me out?"

Now smiling warmly, Sakura quickly told Naruto to dig Sasuke out. It didn't take the pair of them long. Thanking them both, reluctantly, Sasuke turned to leave only to be stopped by Naruto grabbing his arm. "Where are you going?"

Looking over his shoulder Sasuke replied "I'm going to pass this test, I almost touched a bell, next time I'll get one for sure."

Naruto made no attempt to hide his reaction to that statement "No you won't." Naruto stepped in front of Sasuke as he spoke "You got close, because you most likely surprised Kakashi, like I did with my shadow clones, it won't work a second time."

Sasuke tried to walk around the blond "We dont have time for this, it's almost noon."

Blocking his way again, Naruto was fast losing his temper. "No! You are going to hear this! We are meant to be a team, that means we help each other, that doesn't mean you treat us like dirt then expect us to help you when it's convenient for you." Sasuke didn't get a chance to respond as Naruto had decided that he might as well get everything of his chest now.

"Our opponent is a jounin, that means elite ninja of the village, WE are genin, skilled genin maybe, but not even close to Kakashi's level. If any of us are going to get though this test then we are going to need to work together." By the time he had finished, Naruto and Sasuke were practically nose-to-nose, fists clenched, waiting for the other to start fighting.

Sakura quickly pushed the two boys apart "Thats enough! We are suposed to be fighting Kakashi, not each other." Naruto and Sasuke turned to Sakura with identical expressions ('He started it!')

Before anything else could be said the ringing of an alarm shattered the tension as all three realised that they were out of time.

Kakashi looked at his three students, Naruto sitting on the ground pouting, Sakura sitting nearby looking thoughtful and occasionally throwing amused glances at Sasuke, who was tied to a post between his team mates while she, unknown to Kakashi, argued with her-self.

After watching his students interact through-out the bell test, Kakashi felt he had a more accurate understanding of their mental states and so far only one of the reports he had received from the academy was correct. The fact that he was wrong never crossed his mind, but to be fair, Kakashi didn't have all the facts.

Naruto's report made the child out to be the kyuubi reborn and advocated the child's execution, or at the very least expulsion. Naruto's relationship with the hokage was probably the only thing saving him. In fact the boy had proven that he was much smarter than he let on, after all he did learn the shadow clone in a few hours and even had a basic understanding of how to use it effectively, which also showed he had a basic understanding of tactics. His pranking was apparently excellent stealth and evasion training, given how long it was taking to catch him these days. With a bit of training and his large chakra reserves, the boy would make an excellent tank, using powerful jutsu and shadow clones to keep the enemies' attentions focused on him and not his team mates.

Sakura, now there was an odd one. Ever since he had used that genjutsu on the girl she had been acting with a lot more confidence than her academy reports had suggested she had. Kakashi simply decided that whatever she had seen had either upset or disturbed her, he knew from experience that some of the meekest woman could be a real handful when riled. If her instructor could just find a way to motivate her like this all the time she could become a dependable kunoichi. As it was, with the way she shrugged off that illusion, she was definately suited to a genjutsu, ranged or support role of a team.

Sasuke, Kakashi sighed, was not 'just a bit shy' like his report seamed to claim. He was extremely anti-social. Kakashi had realised quickly that the boy had little-to-no desire to interact with his peers and a superiority complex that had been made worse by the constant tide of people fawning over him, telling him he was 'special' and a 'prodigy' and smoothing his path. This would make it near impossible for him to work in a team situation, as his ego would demand he become the leader despite the fact he had no leadership skills and lacked even the most basic concern for those around him. He would be more likely to abandon his team mates or at the very least charge off without considering them than to actually work with them effectively. Beating the notions that 'there is always someone better' and 'the wise man admits how little he knows' into his head would not be easy, though he had watched Naruto and ,surprisingly, Sakura try.

"Well" he said, finally breaking the tense silence that had fallen over the group and schooling his features into a happy somewhat carefree expression. "I don't think you have to worry about going back to the academy," he struggled to keep a straight face at the sudden hope in his students eyes "Naruto and Sakura, I'm sure you will pass your next exams without any problems, Sasuke however..." Kakashi's face and voice became serious and he even released a small amount of Killing Intent, not enough to really be felt, just enough to make their hair stand on end "You should just quit as a ninja."

"What!" Sasuke's expression was livid, even his team mates couldn't hide their shock. In a different world Sasuke attacked Kakashi and recived a severe beating, or was brought down so fast it was comical; in one obscure world he broke down crying before running off and joining the circus where he lead a successful, if short, career as a solo trapeze artist.

"You are put into three man teams for a reason, and it seems that two of you already understand. Sakura! Explain to Sasuke why."  
It should be pointed out that Inner Sakura, Cissnei, was currently still in control and planned to remain so until Sakura took control back, something the girl could easily do if she actually tried. But the poor girl had been rather shaken up by that illusion, and the way Cissnei had spoken to Sasuke had once again left the girl a gibbering wreck in the back of her own mind, and now the Killing Intent Kakashi was still emitting was doing a good job of keeping her quiet. Cissnei really hoped Sakura grew out of this soon, she couldn't just keep taking control, it wasn't healthy for either of them.

Quickly recovering from her shock, and the Killing Intent that Kakashi was still giving off, she answered. "Team work, we are placed into teams to help us succeed in missions and to support each other when we need it." The Turks had operated in a similar manner and almost never sent anyone on solo missions, they always worked in teams of two or more, and failing that they had a partner waiting to back them up when needed.

Kakashi eased up on the Killing Intent and smiled at the girl. "Correct, together the three of you may have succeeded in getting the bells from me, with Naruto's shadow clones as a distraction and Sasuke's ninjutsu skills, it would have been easy for Sakura to sneak up on me and obtain a bell, however!" His expression returned to serious "You, Sasuke, just assumed that your team mates would get in your way and decided to do everything yourself."

"Wait! If that's true, why are there only two bells, that just forces us to fight each other. Even working together, one of us would have to fail!" Naruto cut in.

Kakashi smirked under his mask "Of course, the whole point of this test was to see if you could put personal goals and feelings aside and focus on the job at hand. Sure, individual skill is important but the whole will always be greater than the sum of its parts." Walking calmly over to Sasuke, Kakashi drew a kunai and placed it to the boy's throat before demanding "Sakura! Kill Naruto or Sasuke dies!

Acting on instinct Sakura threw a kunai at Kakashi's head, which of course Kakashi caught, but he was impressed and carried on none the less "See? If a hostage is taken you will have tough choices to make and possibly die." As Kakashi stepped back, and made his way to a nearby memorial stone, Naruto let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding _/She wouldn't have actually attacked you./ _He reassured himself _/I think./_

"The names on this stone are all considered heroes, they were all killed in the line of duty." Kakashi paused while he dealt with the memories the stone brought. "Including my best friend." Sighing, Kakashi appeared to come to a decision "I'll give the three of you one more chance, but I'm going to make it much harder to get the bells. Have some lunch then we will begin." Kakashi walked away, stopping only long enough to call back. "Sasuke is not to eat lunch, it's his punishment for fighting with his team mates, if anyone feeds him I'll fail you immediately." With that Kakashi vanished, only to land on a near-by tree to watch. If a genin could sense him, then either he didn't deserve his rank, or the academy had screwed up much worse than they had already appeared to have in regards to this team.

After a few moments of eating in awkward silence, broken only by the growling of Sasuke's stomach, Sakura stood up and offered her lunch to Sasuke. "Here, you need to eat, Kakashi can't be far so be quick."

"I'm fine, I don't need anything."  
"You need to eat something or you won't have the strength or chakra to fight." Sakura said firmly, waving the loaded chopsticks in front of his mouth.  
"I told you I'm fine."

Getting annoyed with Sasuke, Naruto stood up and stormed over "Damn it, Sasuke, just eat the damn food or we're going to force feed you." Sasuke, wisely, decided against risking the threat and allowed Sakura to feed him, well Cissnei fed him, Sakura was off somewhere in her mind ranting about sharing a romatic lunch with her Sasuke-kun, while she and Naruto shared out the food so they all got enough to at least feel satisfied.

The trio was debating how best to hide the evidence when the sky suddenly darkend and a huge amount of Killing Intent hit the three. "YOU!" Kakashi shouted as he appeared before them like the wrath of god, Sakura and Naruto tensed to fight or flee, forgetting for a moment about the still bound Sasuke.

"...Pass." Kakashi's demenor switched from angry to happy so fast all three students were too shocked to process what he had just said. Kakashi smiled at their expressions _/Sensei was right, messing with a genin team's minds is fun./ _

Naruto was the first to find his voice "Pass? How?"

Deciding his students had suffered enough for today, he began to untie Sasuke "You guys are the first team to ever pass my test, everyone would always just do as I told them, not bothering to think for themselves. Yes, it's important to follow orders, but it's imporant you think and look for the hidden truths."

With Sasuke free, Kakashi walked back towards the memorial stone "Those who break the rules and codes of the ninja world are called trash," putting a hand on the memorial, Kakashi allowed his grief to colour his voice. "But those who don't look after their comrades are lower than trash."

Across the multiverse Kakashi's speech had many different effects. In some his students would go on to become the greatest fighting unit known, rivaling the sannin in power and fame; in others, they disrecarded it as foolish rambling, and later lead a sucessful coup d'état to take control of Konoha before betraying and killing each other. The results in this reality would not be known for a long time to come.

"Starting tomorrow, Team 7 will begin its duties." With that, Kakashi lead his team back towards Konoha; Naruto practically beaming with pride and joy, Sakura puzzling how 'Inner Sakura' had taken control (they had switched back some time during Kakashi's speech), Sasuke smirking that he had finally started his path to revenge.

TBC

Authors note:

Goddamn, that was a long chapter to write. *is dead*

This is Zero metallix and I just thought I would explain a few things. I know the story is following the manga but bear with it, we (me and Honor) have a time line worked out for the story and while it will be slow to start, things will get steadily more different as more people turn up and their past lives start to affect them more. That's what has made this so awkward to write, it's hard for either of us to motivate ourselves to paraphrase the manga. There was going to be more to this chapter (D ranks) but I figured that it had gone on long enough. Also, a little known fact, Sasuke means "help".

Honor here, and I have to agree, even on the original bits I'd be plotting away and then I'd go "And then he...and then... and... Bother you figure out how to word this bit." Also real life does make it hard so catch up and beta-read what the other author has written, an especial problem when dealing with an inadequate spell-check and a dyslexic, plus a keyboard that seems to make non-dyslexics type dyslexically. Thanks all of you for adding us to your alerts and favourites, and a very special thanks to those who reviewed and asked questions.

We both hope you enjoy this chapter, and hope you'll forgive us taking a while to write.

Ja ne!

Author's Note The Second:

Most of the changes in this chapter are geared towards phasing Cloud out (he's not aware yet), phasing Aerith in (She's more useful than we thought we needed before) and bringing Naruto closer inline with his canon self.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Recalled To Service

Summary: Final Fantasy VII characters reincarnate in the Naruto world, but is there a deeper meaning behind their re-awakening?

A/N: Plot idea borrowed with permission from **Youko Rayah, **which appeared as the story **Help Thyself. **This work is a collaboration between **Honor **and **Zero-metallix.**

_/italics/_ indicates thoughts. Final Fantasy names are in the Western format, Naruto names in the Japanese format. If you read Naruto fic and do not recognise the few basic pieces of Japanese sprinkled through the text, their meaning should become evident. This is a re-written chapter following a shift in plot.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The authors are in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 3

355 Years Before

As the woman formerly known as Hyuuga Hitomi died in childbirth, her husband Venat approached the child. He smiled a thin cold smile that didn't reach his dark eyes. Enough of the clan was his at the most basic level that, without even touching the woman, this would have been **his** son. His** key** to this world. His infection was in almost all of them now and still spreading; all children born to the clan would be **his** children, sired directly or not, and his control ensured none would question him. He laid a hand on the child's head, flexing his power, and watched as milky white was flooded with inky black. He smirked.

The untapped potential of these people was now exposed, and through it, his dominion would rise.

The only thing he lacked was a name, names had a power and it would be important for **his** clan to have a strong name that would one day be feared. As he thought he moved towards the cooling body of that had once claimed to be his wife. There was blood on the sheets and floor; in truth, it had only been Venats influence that had kept the child alive through the birth.

Amongst the various implements they had used was a small paper fan that another woman had used in an effort to keep Hitomi's temperature down, she too would soon give birth to another of **his** children. The fan had been discarded when it was clear Hitomi would not survive and was now stained in her blood.

Picking up the fan, Venat turned it over in his hands, searching through his second-hand memories, taken from all those he had infected. It was a small uchiwa fan, often used to fan flames. Venat smirked. Yes, that would be a good name, a name that would one day shake the world.

"Kakashi?" Sarutobi Hiruzen looked up from his paper work as the silver haired jounin walked into the office. "You're late, the other jounin have already reported back."

"Sorry, I took my students to lunch to celebrate."

"Very well, that almost sounds plausible." Ironically Kakashi had been telling the truth, it would also never happen again. _/Who knew three little kids could eat so much!/ _While both Sasuke and Sakura had eaten large, expensive meals just to spite him, it had been Naruto who had gone back for five extra courses because he was genuinely hungry. Kakashi had been suffering from a mix of shock, awe and horror at the time which had prevented him from stopping the boy till his seventh serving.

"So, I must assume that means they passed?" Sarutobi smiled knowingly, as he lent back in his chair, lighting his pipe.  
Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck "Well, yes, they did pass." Sarutobi knew there was a 'but' coming. "But," and there it was "I'm not sure I can lead this team." Sarutobi motioned to the chair in front of his desk. Taking this as a sign to continue Kakashi sat down, sighed, and told the older man about the test, including the inaccuracies in the student files.

By the time he had finished Sarutobi was puffing his pipe harshly, his brow furrowed, as he thought about everything he heard.

After a long and, in Kakashi's case, uncomfortable silence he came to a decision "I will deal with the people responsible for evaluating the academy students in the morning; I expect them to give clear and unbiased information. For them to have falsified records to this degree is unforgivable." Kakashi wondered how many of them would be meeting Ibiki, the head of the village's interrogation division, and one of the most sadistic men he had ever met. "As for your team, if you feel they are not ready then I will have them reassigned to the academy."

Kakashi thought about this for a moment, he really did believe the three would be better off going back but he had already told them that they passed, they were his team and it wouldn't be right to discard them without trying. "No, let me train them, it would be unfair on them to send them back now. I'll give it a month, if I can't see any improvement then...Well, I'll cross that bridge when we come to it."  
"Yes I believe that would be the best for now."  
"If that is all Hokage-sama, I need to get some things sorted out for tomorrow." With that the jounin left the elderly man to his thoughts _/Should I send Ibiki or Anko to see the academy examiners_?/

Two weeks later

Sarutobi sat in the missions office, located in the Hokage tower but on the floor below his office.

Hundreds of mission requests arrived at the tower daily; these requests were sorted and then assigned a rank depending on difficulty, duration, prestige or amount of man power it required.

The most common of these were D and C rank missions and the missions office was responsible for assigning them, for B-rank or over then the Hokage would be the one to assign the mission and brief the team personally.  
Today however he was just trying to escape the piles of paperwork awaiting him in his office and so was helping to hand out the C and D rank missions.

Only three teams in total had qualified this year and were now undertaking missions, It had been almost two weeks since the new teams had begun active duty, In that time they had each gotten into a routine of a number of D-ranked missions a day and training.

Team 10 led by Sarutobi Asuma, the Hokage's son, who had been assigned; Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji, and Yamanaka Ino.  
They completed 1 or maybe 2 missions per-day depending on difficulty and spent the remaining time training and worked well as a team. Overall they were a skilled team lacking only dedication, or as Maito Gai would say, the Flames of Youth. This lack of motivation meant their training was progressing slowly though Asuma liked to say "We are doing things at our own pace."

Team 8 led by Yuhi Kurenai was, so far, the most effective of the teams, Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba were motivated and worked together effectively, they completed 3 missions a day with days off to focus on training. As a team focused on tracking and reconnaissance they showed great promise.

"Ah, team 7." The elderly Hokage began as Kakashi and his students entered the office and took their position in front of the mission desk. As the Hokage understood it, the majority of the training was team building exercises, something team 7 desperately needed. Things had apparently 'improved' for team 7, Naruto and Sakura would work together, with a little prompting from Kakashi but Sasuke had to be ordered to do so, and even then he would alternate between doing as little as possible and trying to do everything. In Kakashi's opinion, the boy's "...I'll go with you...But I'll go with you alone." attitude was the biggest problem.

"The available missions for today are: painting a fence, collecting the shopping for a number of people, helping a local farmer for the day, I believe a number of his live-stock have gotten lose again, or catch Tora the cat, again." He had to repress a chuckle at the reactions the three genin and one jounin showed.

Team 7 left with their chosen mission for the day, find and catch Tora the cat. Just outside the Hokage tower, Naruto came up with an idea that, surprisingly, his teammates agreed with. "You know if that cat just 'happened' to run into the Inuzuka kennels no one could hold us responsible."  
_  
/Yes but you would then be seen as unreliable, which would result in even less interesting missions, or none at all./ _Aerith said playfully, she had watched the last few attempts to catch Tora and she had to agree, that cat required special treatment, starting with an exorcism.

Kakashi, meanwhile, explained yet again, why they could not simply kill the cat.

Graduation had been an unpleasant wake up call for the new genin who like most students had fallen into the routine of doing "just enough" to get buy. This applied to training, study and, much to Cissnei's annoyance, dieting.

The new teams were expected to meet early in the mornings and tended to stay late into the evenings, though thanks to Kakashi's poor time keeping team 7 had a bit more of a lay-in in the mornings.

D-rank missions, which could also be called chores or "Things people are too lazy to do themselves." as Naruto put it, mostly involved manual or heavy labor such as walking dogs, gardening, shopping or finding lost animals to name a few.

On these missions the work would, typically, be divided up evenly between Naruto and his shadow clones while Sasuke did whatever Kakashi could force him to do. Sakura would try to help out only to become tired quickly and have to rest, while Cissnei had managed to make Sakura train while in the academy nothing short of drastic surgery would make her train after classes were finished.

For example:

"All units report in!" Kakashi's voice cut across the radios all three students wore, this was only a simple retrieval mission, catch Tora, but it was a good training mission. Finding and catching Tora took coordination and simulated search/capture and or kill missions that were more common among higher ranks.

"This is Shurinken, I'm in position." Sakura pressed herself against the tree so the target wouldn't see her. The use of call signs to confuse an enemy weren't really necessary, but it was good to get into the habit now while the missions were "non-critical", as Cissnei had put it, and would make things easier later.

"Spiky here, Target is in striking distance." Naruto was hidden in a bush, which was an impressive trick given the orange eye-sore he called a jump suit. He wasn't sure about his call sign, or why Cloud seamed to find it so amusing.

All three counted to 10 before Kakashi spoke up. "Raven, report!" Kakashi sighed before changing tactics "Sasuke, if you do not answer, I will class you as K.I.A, and make you do the next two missions solo as punishment."

"Tch, I'm ready" was the petulant response. "OK, GO!"

All three students charging the cat in a magnificent display of team work, cutting of the target's escape routes and bringing it down quickly and cleanly... is exactly what didn't happen.

Sakura was the closest of the three with Naruto and Sasuke just behind her, despite this she was the last to reach Tora. Naruto was the first to arrive, closely followed by Sasuke, and managed to capture Tora before she could escape.

The normal reaction for a cat that has just been grabbed by a larger creature is to go limp and hope the bigger animal loses interest, or more normally among cats, tense up and hiss demonically, Tora however proceeded to claw each and every part of Naruto it could reach while Sasuke and Sakura looked on in fascination at the aggression and sheer determination to escape shown by the cat.

Arriving on the scene, Kakashi had to force himself not to sigh. Naruto was once again doing the majority of the work and, while that reflected well on him, it was not what Kakashi wanted to see.

Kakashi knew his students had talent, he had seen some of it during their Genin test but he just couldn't figure out how to bring it out of them.  
He was, he thought to himself, used to leading a team of Anbu and had tried treating his Genin in the same way, letting them handle there own individual training but after the last 2 weeks it was clear that while Naruto and Sasuke would set and keep there own training schedule around missions and team time, Sakura wouldn't, which meant she was steadily falling behind her team mates.

That was another sore point, during the Genin exam Sakura had shown that she did have the skills to back up her academy scores, but almost immediately after had switched back to her current fan-girl mind-set and spent the majority of her time fawning over Sasuke.

He was half tempted to hit her with that genjutsu again but was sure that subjecting her to it a second time would count as abuse. He didn't know what she had seen when he used it on her weeks ago, as the illusion used the victim's subconscious to generate an image of whatever frightens them, as such, the caster isn't able to see it.

Sasuke really was skilled for a genin, but made the mistake of overestimating himself and assuming his family name, and blood-line if he activated it, would ensure his victory.

It was getting embarrassing. Kakashi had been avoiding the weekly Jounin meetings at the bar simply because he couldn't face listening to them praise, or brag about, their students progress while his were at a standstill. He had plenty he could teach them, but they all had to improve on the basics first, and before he could work on the basics such as chakra control, something Naruto desperately needed and would help Sasuke and Sakura, he needed to get his 'students' to actively train and work together. Sasuke wanted off the team so he could go it alone, Naruto was too eager to please and tried to do all the work himself (while he had Cloud, a voice in your head doesn't truly count as attention or acceptance, which would probably have explained his outfit and tendency to try and do everything) and Sakura was willing to stand back and let him run himself into the ground while praising Sasuke.

Maybe he should just swallow his pride and ask the others for help, maybe Kurenai knew how to cure a bad case of fangirl-itis.

"I HATE CATS!" Naruto's loud declaration broke Kakashi from his musings.

"Ok, let's go back to the Hokage."

That night Kakashi went to the other jounin. Asking Kurenai for help with Sakura had been painless, and he managed to get through it with dignity intact, but then the subject of the rest of his team had come up. It was just bad luck that Asuma had been there as well. Oh,_ sure_, the man hadn't _said_ anything against him and looked sympathetic the whole time, even offering advice, but Kakashi knew he was going to be the laughing stock of the Jounin Lounge for a long time to come.

Kurenai had suggested changing tactics, focusing on them as a team wasn't working, so maybe he should try one on one instruction as a way to get Sakura up to speed with her team mates, and learn more about his students at the same time, which in turn would let him learn how to motivate them best.

Asuma had used his team as an example. Shikamaru wanted to spend his time cloud watching but put a puzzle in front of him and nothing would stop him from solving it. Choji could simply be bribed with the use of food and simply pointing out to Ino that both her teammates worked harder than her and it was making her look bad or lazy would instantly motivate the girl. None of those facts were covered in the academy profiles and had to be learnt. Genin were not ANBU and required an entirely different way of working.

Kakashi had left the bar that night thinking carefully about each of this students, what they needed to improve and how he would go about it and how to motivate them, ANBU could be expected to motivate themselves and that was mostly where he seemed to go wrong the past 2 weeks, his approach had been hands-off with a few minor exceptions.

Naruto would be easy enough, the boy wanted attention that was obvious, Sasuke wanted power in a way that frankly worried the jounin and Sakura, actually now that he thought about it he really didn't know much about her so he decided to use the few bits of her academy report he could trust.

He wasn't expecting them to suddenly become incredible shinobi, a month wasn't enough time to drastically improve their physical skills, he was just hoping for an improvement in their attitudes.

It was for this reason that when team 7 arrived at the usual training they found him standing there with a number of bags at his feet and seeming to be deep in thought.

Naruto was the first to speak "Kakashi-sensei, you're early!"

"Oh? Sorry, I had some things I needed to pick up and lost track of time."

The Genin shared a look, this couldn't end well.

"OK, as your instructor, I feel that your progress has been rather poor since you were assigned to me, a thought the Hokage shares and has given me less than two weeks to correct before he steps in." This was an old trick, when in doubt, blame the management. "So, in an effort to correct that, I will be taking the time to work with each of you one on one. Now for this to work we will need to lessen the number of missions we undertake at first, but once you get used to the extra effort things should soon return to normal."

The Genin almost sighed, things could have been worse. A little extra training in exchange for a few less chores (none of them would call D-ranks 'missions') was almost a win-win situation in their eyes

"But, since I'm not able to trust the three of you to schedule your own physical training around our team meetings, I will be taking a hand in that as well." the sadistic gleam in Kakashi's eye was only visible for a moment but all three Genin noticed it.

"So, to start off with, the three of you will do laps around the village till I tell you otherwise and we'll see where we go from there."

Grumbling the three genin took off setting what ever pace they felt they could maintain for long distances and Sakura tried desperately to ignore the smug voice of inner Sakura who was, again, berating her for not maintaining her physical conditioning.

Kakashi had them run laps till noon, watching his genin limp back from their final lap had been enlightening. Naruto was winded but looked ok to go longer. Sasuke was clearly tired, not having Naruto's stamina. Sakura had collapsed some time ago and was currently resting to one side.

Kakashi took a moment to explain to all three what he had thought, good, not bad and poor before handing all three lunch. While they ate he explained the rest of the new schedule.

"As of now, you will all repeat this exercise once a week, each week I expect you all to have improved." Kakashi ignored the panicked choking noises coming from Sakura. "Every morning you will arrive here at seven and perform these exercises." He handed the three sheets containing a timetable and a number of different exercises. Naruto's and Sasuke's were similar though Naruto had a full hour of meditation as apposed to Sasuke's thirty minutes, this would hopefully help when it came to chakra and emotion control while Sakura's focused less on muscle building and more on flexibility and stamina, this regime had been recommended by Kurenai, she didn't mention it but she had used it as a Genin and she knew Hinata used a similar one.

"You will do this even if I am not here, and trust me, I will know if you have not. I will then have the three of you spar, full contact, no jutsu." Once again as the physically weakest member of the team, Sakura looked about ready to pass out. "Though you will be under my supervision the whole time and you WILL NOT do anything more than light sparing without out me or another jounin present. After lunch we will continue to accept missions."

Maybe he was being a bit hard on them, maybe, but if he didn't get some kind of improvement out of them soon then he would have to send them back to the academy.

Kakashi handed each of the boys a bag, Naruto's containing weights, a weighted training blade and theory scrolls, while Sasuke's contained weights, more scrolls and a black and yellow book titled "TEAMWORK for Dummies".

"Ok, Naruto, Sasuke, why don't you two call it a day, I want to speak to Sakura." He had meant to spend the rest of the day working with all three individualy but while watching them Sakura had moved up to the top of his "Things that need fixing" list.

Once the boys had left Kakashi turned his attention to Sakura. He had spent the better part of this morning thinking about what to say to her. Kurenai had told him to be firm if he wanted any chance of getting though to her so he had decided on being honest with the girl.

"Sakura, why did you become a ninja?" Considering her past behavour Kakashi didn't wait for her to answer. "If it was simply to impress some boy then you should drop out now." OK, maybe he was being harsh, too harsh if Sakura's expression was any indicator, but this needed to be said. "Right now you are the weakest member of the team, your stamina, endurance and physical strength are all well below where they should be for a kunoichi of your age. You would struggle to defeat a civilian in your current state and in the real world you put this whole team at risk."

Kakashi took a moment to let that sink in before he began again this time softer "Sakura, you really need to think about if this is really what you want to do. Once we move on to real misisons we will be expected to risk our lives for this village. As a kunoichi you risk a lot more than a shinobi, if enemy ninja catch you death is the best that will happen, torture and rape are very real possibilities; not all villages are as gentle as Konoha." Looking again at the pale, shaken girl Kakashi decided she'd had enough. "If you still think you are up to this, then I will see you here tomorrow." Kakashi left the training area, leaving Sakura alone with her thoughts, though in truth he only went as far as the nearest vantage point so he could keep an eye on her.

TBC

Omake: Whatever happened to?

Looking through the bushes, he watched his target. Soon Cloud would pay. The appearance, the very world, had changed but he would always know it was him.

Moving soundlessly from shadow to shadow he closed in on his target, careful with each step that he didn't betray his position. Cloud wasn't the green, failed SOLDIER he once was, nor the broken man he faced in Midgar; he was alert and battle ready.

Finally he was within striking distance, fate it seemed had a twisted sense of humour, his form now was much smaller so he had to get closer than he liked. His whole body tensed, muscles coiled and claws flexed.

NOW!

He jumped, claws out, teeth bared, ears back and fur on end, Cloud would not escape him!

Sakura and Sasuke watched in horror as the small feline attacked Naruto with an almost palpable hatred for the blonde. Looking at each other, Sakura was the first to speak "Black, Ribbon on ear, unusual hatred for naruto, target confirmed. Kakashi-sensei, Tora is trying to kill Naruto again."

A/N: Honor here. Sorry it's taken so long to get this chapter out, and thanks to those of you who still added this to your alerts and nagged us via PM and review. Unfortunately, I personally had writers block, which occured shortly after my laptop self-destructed. I am only now getting over this, but the majority of this chapter was written solely by Zero, with me acting as beta. For the record, he is a Transformers fan, and this chapter does contain a reference. Expect more. For lack of a better name for a villain we took Venat from FFXII. Also, for those who asked us, the above omake is just one of the reasons Sephiroth will not be appearing in this fic as a human, as any omakes will be classed as canon unless otherwise stated. Basically, this is karma getting back at Sephiroth.

A/N 2: Zero. While Honor can claim writers block i simply dont have enough confidence in my writing skill to continue without Honor checking over what i do, our writing styles are quite diffrent so you can prolly tell who wrote what parts but what you can't tell is i am more or less unable to spell half the words i know (i read alot but suffer mild dyslexia, yes i was tested and classed as a kid, which affects my spelling) so i didnt want to create to much work for honor when she came back. oh one last thing, while we are using the Name Venat from FFXII the apperance obviously is diffrent. For the record the TF ref is to a big dinosuar. Lets see how many get who it is. And anyway honor, its not like im gonna have them burst out into song singing "you got the touch"


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